Following the controversy surrounding the proposed reactivation of the No. 1 reactor at the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shihmen District (石門), Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Minister Hsieh Shou-shing (謝曉星) yesterday said the probability of reactivating the long-shuttered reactor is “virtually zero.”
The reactor has been out of action since December 2014 due to the discovery of a loose handle on a fuel rod cask, and according to a resolution passed by the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee in March last year, the reactor could not be reactivated until the council makes a formal report to the legislature.
The council has not been able to deliver a report, despite five requests, because the committee has refused to arrange a session for a reactivation report.
At a meeting of the Education and Culture Committee yesterday, Hsieh said the council would not request that the legislature arrange a session for the reactivation report, but that the council might agree to deliver a report should the Ministry of Economic Affairs or Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) request it to do so.
“Under the conditions [that the committee will not arrange a session for the council and the council will not request a session], I can say that the probability of reactivating the reactor is virtually zero,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said.
Hsieh agreed with Huang.
“Since the reactor is scheduled to be decommissioned in two years, and since it is unlikely that a session will be arranged for the reactivation report, can it be assumed that the reactor will be automatically decommissioned [without being restarted]?” Huang asked.
“One might as well say that, because the operation of the reactor has been ceased,” Hsieh said.
Huang said that the council should consider decommissioning the reactor ahead of schedule since it is unlikely to be revived.
“The only issue during my term in office is decommissioning [nuclear power plants] and there is no issue of extending the lifespan [of nuclear plants],” Hsieh said, adding that the council has no plans to decommission nuclear power plants ahead of schedule.
Should the ministry and Taipower decide to reactivate the reactor, the council would have to launch an investigation to determine whether the reactivation might pose a safety risk, else the council could not guarantee it would be safe to restart the reactor, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Nai-shin (蔣乃辛) accused the council of inconsistency, saying two separate reports submitted by the council last year and last month said the reactor had been cleared to be restarted, but Hsieh was now saying the council was not sure if the facility could be safely reactivated.
“If the council’s previous reports cannot be trusted, how can subsequent reports be trusted?” Chiang asked.
Hsieh did not respond.
The committee also passed a motion to request that the council deliver a report to the legislature before the reactivation of the No. 2 reactor at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里), after a power surge burned out a protective device in the reactor’s electricity generation system last month.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
RSS